Color correcting for the real world?

L

lucidz

Well-known member
I've finally begun finishing the dvd i've been working on for months now and as i have the final rendered version, i realize how vastly different the footage looks on different cpu monitors. On mine, it looks fantastic, on the guy who I did it for, it looks washed out and unsaturated.

I take it to another computer, and it looks fine.

Whats the best way of aiming for the middle ground with your cc to make sure you don't over or under do it?
 
Use a real production monitor.

2nd choice: try to adjust your computer monitor as close to the specs as possible (you won't be able to get there completely).

All you can do it make it look correct for a standardized baseline.

There is also a Broacast Colors plugin to make sure what you have is "legal". And a broadcast-to-computer color correction plugin (sorry, I don't remember the exact name) you should use if the destination is computer viewing.

Dan
 
when you say use a production monitor, how do i get the video out to it?

I have a panasonic production monitor, that accepts bnc and svideo, but how do i get my vid from my puter/nle to it?

edit: Sorry, the intended target is DVD, it just so happens we are at work so he viewed it on his laptop, and I on my computer, it looks great on my monitor, crap on his.
 
Run the firewire from the computer to a DV cam (DVX will do, but even a cheaper model will work), then SVideo or composite from the cam to the production monitor.

Oh, and that "broadcast-to-computer" thingie isn't called that. It's a preset in one of the color correction effects (Color Curves? Color Correction?) called something like Studio RGB to Computer RGB. (I'm still not sitting near my Vegas to check)

Dan
 
Computer monitors have very varied gamma setups....in short, don't trust them.

You will never be able to make a video look good on every TV and monitor, but a decent production monitor does help a lot. The people who have their TVs on mad crappy settings, are so blind that they can't tell the difference anyway, so screw them, you will never please everyone.
 
The best you can do is make it look right on a properly-calibrated monitor. There's no accounting for how an individual may have his/her monitor set up, and you can't predict that. All you can do is make sure that it looks right under the proper circumstances. Calibrate your monitor using color bars, and then color-correct to that calibrated monitor. That's the best you can do.
 
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